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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / December 2007Warm up car?
In the old days people warmed up their cars. But I have heard that newer cars need no warm up, just start and drive off. What if you live next to an interstate and you drive one block then at freeway speeds? How long should you warm up a car in the winter? It is not nearly as important as it once was to warm up a car before driving because. 1) Electronically controlled fuel injection works much better when cold than carburetors. 2) The oil most people use these days e.g. 5W20 is not as thick when cold as the 10W40 oil that was once common. > In the old days people warmed up their cars. But I have heard that > newer cars need no warm up, just start and drive off. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > How long should you warm up a car in the winter?  SignatureMike Walsh Warming up your car is a waste of gas. Some people still do it because back when cars had carbeurators, they ran like crap in the cold. >>In the old days people warmed up their cars. But I have heard that >>newer cars need no warm up, just start and drive off. As far back as I can remember (60s) the "best" recommendation has always been to start the car, wait for the oil pressure to stabilize (30 seconds is plenty) and then drive (gently) to put a load on the engine and warm it up faster than idling can. In fact, I drive a '60s vintage car every day and that's exactly what I do. No "warm up" at all- its just a waste of fuel and it puts a whole lot of combustion by-products (water, unburned fuel, acids) into the engine oil. Conversely, you don't want to jump in, start it, and immediately apply full load and 5000+ RPM. With both old and the very newest engines, clearances do change as temperatures increase and there is always more wear on a cold engine than a warm one. No need to exacerbate it with excessive loading while cold. >>What if you live next to an interstate and you drive one block then at >>freeway speeds? Maybe let it warm up just a little longer, and merge onto the freeway sedately to keep the engine RPM from winding way up and sending the oil pressure through the roof while the oil is still cold. > >>freeway speeds? > > Maybe let it warm up just a little longer, and merge onto the freeway > sedately to keep the engine RPM from winding way up and sending the oil > pressure through the roof while the oil is still cold. Indeed, depending on car weight and engine size, most engines today are cruising at a fairly low power level at constant speed on a freeway (at legal limits anyway). If you can merge without using full throttle it shouldn't put too much stress on the engine with a block's worth of warmup. Only during heavy acceleration do we use a high percentage of engine power. Don Stauffer in Minnesota <stauffer@usfamily.net> wrote in article <b48c47b0-3f52-4318-96c7-300e8f2df46e@e4g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>... > > >>freeway speeds? > > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > worth of warmup. Only during heavy acceleration do we use a high > percentage of engine power. Good point! I run down the highway at 70 mph at 2200 rpm. That's just a few more rpm than a 1700 rpm fast idle on choke - and it is under load, which is much better for the engine. >>> In the old days people warmed up their cars. But I have heard that >>> newer cars need no warm up, just start and drive off. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > wear on a cold engine than a warm one. No need to exacerbate it with > excessive loading while cold. My $.02 - Where does the OP live? Warming up your car in January in Florida vs Minneapolis vs Alaska... It's still pretty much warm it up for a "bit" and then drive easy until everything else is warmed up, but a "bit" and "easy" isn't the same at 20F vs -40F. The engine gets warmed up idling, but the transmission doesn't, nor does the wheel bearings or axle lube... so you need to drive it easy when it's cold even if the engine has been idling for 10 minutes. I live in Winnipeg (hit -25C today...) and if my car was parked outside, I'd probably start it and let it warm up for about a minute before loading the kids in it and then driving off, so it would have a 2-3 minute warmup. That would be the same if it was a 2008 or a 1988. If it was a 1968 with a manual choke, that might be a bit different, but not much. Ray i drive off right after i start the engine. But to get to the street i need to pass about 300 meters of gravel road, so i have to drive slowly about 1000rpm. I think its better for the engine then idling it for a couple of minutes. I used to drive citroen xm in the past with hydropneumatic suspension, after i started it, i had to wait about 5+ minutes for it to lift the car, only then i could start driving. that was necessity:) > In the old days people warmed up their cars. But I have heard that > newer cars need no warm up, just start and drive off. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > How long should you warm up a car in the winter? That all depends on the car and the weather. On lots, if you start driving cold on a snowy wet day or if your carpets have gotten wet from tracked in snow, the inside of the windshield will frost over totally obscuring the view when the heat first hits it. This is bad news. It takes several minutes to clear or it needs a scrape. I actually keep a scraper inside handy for this on those type of vehicles. Because of this, I prefer to let my vehicle at least warm up until some heat comes out of the defrost, or I just scrape and go sometimes. I also drive a Jeep CJ7 and if I don't let it warm up inside before I hit the highway in the sub zero, it takes a 'loooong' time to warm up if it ever will. Warm it first so at least all the windows have defrosted and I am good to go and will stay warm. Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 'New' frame in the works for '08 "Mike Romain" <romainm@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:474b0936$0$5145 > Because of this, I prefer to let my vehicle at least warm up until some > heat comes out of the defrost, or I just scrape and go sometimes. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Mike Been there, done that too, Mike.. In Norway, the inside of my windshield would sometime ice up even though the heater was on full blast. And the door locks would freeze, and my bootie would freeze. After I got a car with seat warmers, the latter was solved. But, seriously, with fuel injection cars, as soon as the oil pressure is up, the car can be driven. > What if you live next to an interstate and you drive one block then at > freeway speeds? > > How long should you warm up a car in the winter? An extra warming up it's not necessary but important to operate smooth with could engine. First I Start the engine, then I switch the radio and lights on in case of need and then fasten the seat belt and go smoothly in drive. Additionally is this car equipped with an auxiliary heating; I turned on if temperature below 13°C to shorten warm up phase. By the way, the start procedure I do exactly reverse to park the car. Regards, Ralf what is the outside temperature? do you have a block heater? do you have a car warmer? > what is the outside temperature? do you have a block heater? do you > have a car warmer? They call it "parking heater" or "BlueHeat" from Webasto http://www.webastoshowroom.com/blueheat/ I turned on if outside temperature below 13°C. Regards, Ralf "Ralf Ballis" <rb.news@arcor.de> wrote in message news:474bf6b5$0$27132 > They call it "parking heater" or "BlueHeat" from Webasto > http://www.webastoshowroom.com/blueheat/ [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Ralf 13C is pretty warm...some 55F. you should drive for about 2 miles @50 miles and hour then let it go. -- Message posted using http://www.talkaboutautos.com/group/rec.autos.tech/ More information at http://www.talkaboutautos.com/faq.html bluemarble <tubbie23@att.net> wrote in article <c94ac032af6196b784fb2123004c54b8@localhost.talkaboutautos.com>... > you should drive for about 2 miles @50 miles and hour then let it go. You should drive gently until all the temps (engine oil, coolant, transmission fluid, axle grease, etc.) are normalized......up to eight or ten miles. |
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